Episode63
The One Block Week We finally caught up on our Sleep Deprivation and set out with the Progenitors Ophilius, Yala, Geata and Mariana to retrieve the Heart of the Redemption and the other three Progenitor Ships from the Lighthouse. With the help of the Squirrels opening the Tree-Gate, we stepped easily out of the Galaxy to survey the situation at the Projenitor Fleet. Unfortunately, it was not good. The exploded Star was continuing to degrade rapidly, and the powerful gravitational effects were likely going to envelope the Fleet within days! The 01 powered Progenitor Bots that we had left behind were doing there best to build increasingly large Engines to compensate, but were clearly falling behind and / or running out of materials to build with. The gravitational effects were in fact so powerful that Pete soon realized that space-time was being compressed so badly in the local area that time was passing 24x faster in the rest of the Galaxy. This was not good! The Progenitors seemed to feel that the effect could easily be mitigated with a minor Miracle from the Star, but unfortunately we had left it behind on Veilos for safe-keeping. We got the the Squirrel Brigade started on opening another Portal back ASAP, and Kiwi entered the Dream-State, (via forcible Narcolepsy courtesy of Mariana) to try get the Gate Ritual performed simultaneously back on Vielos. But what with the severe Time Distortion, even contacting any other Dream-Walkers proved to be an enormous challenge, as he was stuck like a Statue compared to everybody else. Kiwi attracted Grey-Nut's attention, but was unable to get through to him. Meanwhile, concerned with the difficulty of try to manage collapsing the rapidly growing Mini-Black Hole as his fist attempt the produce Gate-Metal, Pete set out to write a Gate Engineering Computer Program while he waited. Geata and Mariana were extremely interested in the Gate Engineering work, and watched eagerly over Pete's shoulder as he worked, (Pete took this as another opportunity to Hit on Mariana, to slightly less disasterfull results this time). After waking up, Kiwi interrupted Oz's block learning Progenitor Lore (selfishly taking time to become a better ambassador) and recruited him to come and help in the Dream-World, (Double Narcolepsy, Baby!), where he was able to provide a privacy screen when Kiwi was eventually able, through super-squirrelean mental effort, to get a hold of Green-Leaf, who played his role in the Prophesy and was able to understand the message! The K'wikster told him to open the Gate on Blocks 2, 3 & 4, four days later, our only hope to not become hopelessly trapped, (well, for 3-4 'Blocks' at worst?). We were extremely relieved when the Gate opened successfully at the end of the Block, but were dismayed to find out that seven days had passed in our absence, (the Gravitational Distortion apparently having worsened at an even faster rate than we had feared). In fact, it turned out that the only reason we were able to successfully use the Tree Gate at all was because Lady Uxia had insisted that the Ritual be performed continuously for the extra last days when we failed to show up as scheduled. Ophilius immediately stepped through the Gate, teleported directly into the center of the VDFSD super secret ultra-high security containment bunker and back in under a second, and returned with the Star. A quick minor miracle by the Progenitors later and the pesky time-distortion problem was taken care of. Then Pete pulled out his Galactic Tuning Fork and proceeded to collapse the incipient Black-Hole into a shiny dense ball of Star Metal. As the Worker-Bots assisted him with harvesting the Star Metal and installing it over a rigid chassis to form the Gate, Oz and Kiwi of course immediately moved into Star-Humping Mode, but when Pete decided he needed another Block to tune the Gate to optimal reception, the Progenitors got bored and wandered off back to Veilos with the Star, leaving them to combine on some curve-breaking selfish magic while they watched Pete's back for fear of Reaver attack. Eventually, (read: 4 Bennys later), Pete got the Gate tuned to go to an Alliance World with a Tree-Gate, (note: the concept that Pete can now destroy Stars or redirect existing Gates with a 4-Hour Block has interesting strategic repercussions). We had the Worker-Bots hook the Core-less Progenitor Ships up to the Heart of the Redemption & its conveniently large Engine Core like a big 'ol tugboat and unceremoniously towed them through the first new operational G'neer Gate built in 100,00 years. And then of course because Pete was involved we blew it up behind us immediately after we went through back to Inuid. This put us only a few irritating Logistics Blocks away from returning the Fleet to Veilos, what with Home-Tree One performing Atmospheric Maneuvers and all. Pete had already gone back into imminent Sleep Deprivation territory to perform his work to rescue the Fleet, so he stayed up and solved the Zombie Vaccine problem and continued work on his Anti-Hook Rocket System for the VDF Fleet while Oz and Kiwi slept soundly, (more on Oz's Dream-Walk later). For his trouble with the Zombie Virus, (3-Block Party Project :( ), Pete was rewarded with the illustrious and now coveted Dragon Benny, (Auto-Natural 20, carries over between sessions). For the record, we all got dosed with the new vaccine (except maybe Joe). Meanwhile, we got caught up on the Galactic Events of the week we missed while suffering time dilation. In our absence, the three Reaver Fleets had attacked as predicted. Two of them striking at the outlying Alliance World of Nedril with the other spotted near the unaligned systems of Ticus and Inahten. The fleets attacking Nedril had three Reaver Planets (one so large that if counted as a Fleet on Its own) and overran Nedril Prime by parking themselves in dangerously close orbits, allowing the resultant Tidal Forces to wreak destruction on the planet until its Ferenhiem Field collapsed! As obligated by the Mutual Protection Clause of the Alliance Constitution, the remainder of the Alliance Fleet was recalled from Kovinus to mount a counter-offensive in the region. In our absence, the poor decision to send the fleet on a 6-week voyage to Nadril was made, which likely is exactly what the Reavers wanted. While the fleet is out of the picture they will be able to open a space-tear directly to Ekenwynne and attack unmolested. We need to get that fleet back! Oz figures Pete's new found gate-manipulation abilities will likely be enough to convince the Admiralty to bring the Fleet back if we can find some time to talk to them. Speaking of poor decisions while we're gone, our efforts to establish a Tree Gate at Kovinus were thwarted when the Tree-Umverate was used to return Hometree One to Veilos (as planned) and then left with the Alliance Fleet (not as planned). End result: no tree gate on Kovinus! Note: this logger is not exactly sure how this actually worked since it seems like one tree-gate would need to stay behind so that's a little confusing. On a 'brighter' note, the XSC salvaged the two Progenitor weapon depots that Oz uncovered earlier during a Spirit Lore session with a Wisp. They promptly sold the goods, for a modest profit, to the local systems around the depots which should give the Reavers some problems if they pass that way (yokels with Sun Cannons!). One was near Istanui and the other in Kovinus space. After we returned to Veolos, the Tican Diplomatic Corps contacted Oz with a proposition They were in town petitioning the Alliance Council for a special arrangement with the Alliance that would preserve more local autonomy but still abolish slavery. They described it more as an 'umbrella' arrangement rather than officially joining the Alliance. From their dealings with Purrina and The Grapevine, they saw an opportunity to make a trade of a 'personal nature' with Oz. They could help get to Lady Aglea! Oz promised to use his influence to secure their treaty with the Council in exchange for information regarding when/where Lady Aglia would be exposed and vulnerable. It should be noted that they were also willing to take 150 billion chips instead but Oz was concerned that going to Uxia with that, near blackmail, would instigate a war with Ekenwynne until they revealed their information so he chose to handle things in his own way. Once the deal with the Alliance was done they also planned to disclose the location of their secret cargo gate that opens deep in Hubertus space. That should be handy when we need to go after the Hall of Orta. Speaking with 01 and the Chief, we learned that they had determined that 20% of the Internet Com-Nodes appeared to be infected with a Reaver Virus that was filtering content and delaying Transmission of anything they didn't like. The two AIs assured us that they were working on the problem, but we got the impression that it was probably the kind of thing that would require PC intervention to move the Plot forward. The other interesting thing that we learned via The Grapevine was that Gus Canyern was in a Coma. It seemed that the plan for him to expel Yahw from Aglea didn't go as hoped! Oz used the Dream Walk to visit him and found out that he was actually the one who was possessed by Yahw, not Aglea! Within Oz's privacy bubble, Gus revealed that after being used to trick us into giving up the Shadow-Reaver Containment Field Technology, Yahw tried to make him kill himself, but he managed to fail enough to survive in a Coma. He was biding his time trying resist the efforts of the medicos to bring him around, fearful that if he wakes up Yahw will return to finish him off or possess him again. Gus asked for help since he couldn't hold out much longer. Gus shared some key information about the location of the medical facility he was held in. Oz agreed to help him as best he could and to hold out for a rescue. Oz also visited Uxia in the dream world. She wasn't home at first but eventually returned to find Oz primed and ready (in bed). Unfortunately, sexy-time was not on her mind but after berating Oz for disappearing, ("You say that you were lost in time beyond the edge of the galaxy every other week!"), she shared what had been happening. The Hubertus situation had continued to develop while we were away with Aglea descending further into madness and becoming even more aggressive and erratic. We traveled to her dream and saw a twisted view of the galaxy with Aglea perched above it all pulling the strings. Oz was both horrified and fascinated. It was a deeply private view into her innermost thoughts with much to be learned about her machinations throughout the galaxy. Unfortunately, Oz completely failed to glean anything specific (rolled d%100) due to being completely distracted by her grotesquely over-sexualized view of him. He knew ''there was a spark of something when they met! Luckily, Uxia didn't notice where he was focused and they left Aglea's dream before he could get into more trouble. Safely back in Uxia's dream inside Oz's privacy bubble, two options were discussed. The first involved a mad, desperate plan to retrieve Xena by force using a team of Strike Commandos secreted deep inside Huburtus Space. Uxia was getting desperate and felt that it was time to gamble it all. However, when Oz presented the option to retrieve Gus instead she shrewdly saw the value in acquiring whatever intelligence he might have. With his help, we could have a major advantage when dealing with Aglea and rescuing Xena. It was agreed that the Commandos would go after Gus first while he was still alive and where we could get at him. Oz also visited the Progenitors to discuss: 1) deal for one of the Progenitor ships 2) keeping the Chief 3) using the Star to open the Hall of Orta Ophilius was calling all the Progenitor's back to discuss the escalation in Reaver activity as well as some important decisions that required a vote (apparently the Progenitors are democrats). He stated that decisions of magnitude needed to be voted on by all of the Progenitors but he was in favor of giving us a ship. Geata and Willema were probably amenable, as well. Yala would go with whatever Raydin decided. Speaking of Yala, she was excited because Raydin was planning to return tomorrow ('he is very resourceful') so likely all of the Progenitors will be back at Veilos soon. Raydin will be best swayed by tactical reasoning so we should think up a solid reason why we need a ship. Willema had spent the last week with the Tree Fleet, which seemed to be going well, but she was expected back, too. We'll need to speak to them all tomorrow. On a final note, there was totally a deal that this logger didn't want to forget that Oz worked at the end of the night that has now been forgotten. grrr. For the record, we had '''4 blocks' of useful time (or a week and 3 blocks if not in the the time dilation effect). Generic 44 Loggers 11 Academic . Back to Space Junk LogCategory:Space Junk